By Annette Ferguson M.P- I read with interest an article relating to an outreach led and hosted by Mr. Irfaan Ali on Saturday, March 29, 2025, in La Grange, WBD. During the event, it was stated that those who had applied for house lots prior to January 1, 2025, would receive provisional letters by September 2025.
Upon reading this, I conducted a deep analysis of the current situation facing the government with regard to housing. The government was quite ambitious when they announced the provision of 50,000 house lots within their five-year term. However, it is clear that the government lacks a strategic policy or plan to address the persistent housing issues that they inherited prior to May 2015.
It is necessary to remind readers that the Coalition Government inherited over 50,000 house lot applications. Therefore, when the Coalition Government demitted office in August 2020, there were approximately 40,000 pending applications on file.
Housing is a basic necessity for human well-being, and while the government, through the CHPA, has a mandate to ensure every Guyanese has access to affordable housing, the PPP/C seems to believe that allocating a house lot is sufficient. However, this cannot be considered a true solution, as it is immeasurable. Many of those who received allocations still face challenges in building their dream homes.
The PPP/C is not being truthful with the people of Guyana. The demand for housing is high, while the supply remains limited through the Central Planning and Housing Authority (CHPA), which relies heavily on the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) and non-cultivated lands by GUYSCO. Rather than addressing these challenges, the government has chosen to deceive the people by playing on their emotions regarding housing.
Despite the Ministry of Housing and the government boasting of having allocated over 41,000 house lots between August 2, 2020, and January 31, 2025, many individuals who applied as far back as the early 2000s are still waiting for a call, let alone an allocation.
I encourage you to review the comments section of the Ministry’s Facebook page or the respective Facebook pages of the Ministers involved. Don’t just take my word for it.
Now, let us focus on the latest pronouncements by Mr. Ali regarding the issuance of provisional letters. While this announcement is noteworthy, I have several questions that I hope will generate responses from Mr. Ali or the relevant Ministers at Housing:
1. I wish to remind Mr. Ali that I have called on Minister Colin Croal on numerous occasions to make public (and disaggregate by region) the locations of the lands and the number of house lots allocated in each category. This has not been done.
2. Regarding the provisional letters to applicants, in which areas are these allocations likely to occur, and will this be factored into the letters?
3. What veri informed Mr. Ali’s decision to make such a pronouncement?
Fundamentally, something is amiss in the housing sector. Why do I say this, Editor? If the PPP/C inherited 40,000 house lot applications when they took office in 2020 and allocated more than 41,000, then mathematically, they should have fewer than 30,000 pending applications on file, as it is highly unlikely that 20,000 new applications would have been submitted in any given year.
In conclusion, I publicly appeal to the people of Guyana not to be deceived by the PPP/C, who will dangle promises of house lots, money, and other incentives in exchange for your support for another five years. I urge you to open your eyes and see through the false promises.